The Best Intentions by Ingmar Bergman Page B

she saying?
    Blenda: Something pleasant happened.
    Alma: I think Henrik should tell you himself.
    Henrik: You see, I had an oral exam in church history with the dreaded Professor Sundelius. Three of us took it, and I was the only one to pass. After the exam, the professor asked to speak to me alone. He offered me a cigar and was extremely friendly. Quite unlike his usual sarcastic self.
    Alma ( excited ): He offered Henrik a cigar!
    Henrik: I’ve said that, Mama.
    Alma: Sorry, sorry.
    Henrik: Well, we chatted for a while about this and that. Among other things, he said that anyone good at church history shows industry, good memory, and self-discipline. He thought I had shown unusual talent whenI’d elucidated the Apostolic symbolism. That’s quite complicated and requires some scholastic classification.
    Ebba: What’s he saying, Blenda?
    Blenda: Not now, Ebba. ( Hoots .) Later, later.
    Henrik: He suggested I should go over to the academic side. That I ought to write a thesis for a doctorate. The professor offered to be my adviser. Then later on I would be sure to get a fellowship. He said most theologians were idiots and they had to nurture the few talents they have.
    Alma: Flattering for Henrik, you see, Blenda. Professor Sundelius will become archbishop or a cabinet minister any moment now.
    Henrik: Then I told him the truth, that I had no means. I hadn’t even enough capital to complete my theology exams. Then the professor said that if I could arrange for the first years on my own, later on I would be awarded something called a postgraduate scholarship. That’s quite a lot of money, you see, Aunt Blenda. Nearly all those who get them are married with children and servants.
    Blenda: Well I never!
    Alma ( diving in ): Now we’ve come to you to ask for an interest-free loan of six thousand kronor. Professor Sundelius reckoned that was just about what was needed.
    Blenda: Well I never!
    Alma: We wanted to turn to you first. I mean, before we went to the Upplands Bank. The professor promised to write a recommendation. He would guarantee the loan, he said.
    Blenda: What do you think, Beda?
    Beda ( laughs ): I’m speechless.
    Ebba: What are you talking about? Is it about money?
    Blenda: Henrik’s going to be a professor! And needs six thousand kronor, apart from the two thousand he’s already borrowed. Do you understand?
    Ebba: Have we got that much money?
    Blenda: That is the big question.
    Blenda laughs with a crackling sound. Beda smiles and peers at Henrik from under her long dark eyelashes. Henrik’s pallor has turned to scarlet. Alma is breathing heavily. Suddenly, Blenda gets up and claps her hands together.
    Blenda: If we’re going to get something done, then we’d better do it at once. Would you mind coming with me into my study, Alma and Henrik?
    Blenda’s study has a special entrance from the hall and is rather cramped. The shelves are crammed with office books. In the middle of the floor there’s a sloping office desk and over by the window an ordinary desk and some chairs of stained wood. In a corner a leather sofa and armchair, a round table with a brass top and everything for the smoker. Blenda turns on the electric light, frees a little key from agold chain around her neck, opens the middle drawer of the desk, takes out some shiny metal keys, and opens the safe skulking behind a screen by the door.
    Neither Alma nor Henrik can see what she is doing behind the screen. When she appears again, she has a bundle of banknotes in her right hand. She puts the money down on the desk, locks up the keys to the safe, and fastens the drawer key back onto the gold chain. Then she starts counting. Six thousand riksdaler in notes. When at last she stops counting, she hands the money to Alma, who is standing there as if she had been struck by lightning.
    Alma: Maybe I should sign a receipt.
    Blenda: Henrik, please go out to your aunts for a moment. I would like to talk to